Thread: response to a future employer?

My future boss asked me over email what my "hourly wage demands" are and I'm not sure to say as to how much. I'm a college senior with computer skills. Some suggestions please.

How much would he have to pay someone else to do the same job?
How much is so little that the job is not worth your time?

Somewhere in between is the right number.

How much do you want to work at THIS job?
How many other job opportunities do you have or can you find?

Its all a negotiation.

BTW. "College senior with skills" is meaningless to me. Big difference between a D-Average art history major from Podunk U who knows a little WORD/Excel and a straight A biopharmacy major from Yale who can write computer programs in c++.

Ask what has been the range in the past for his company.

Do some research and find out what the general salaries are in your location for the job you are applying for, and then fix that somewhere between the lowest salary you will accept, and the highest you think you can get.

Give him a range, but make it a SMALL range--otherwise he will put you in at the bottom of your range. Don't undervalue your work or skills, but don't inflate it either.